The Little Mermaid: Adventures In Atlantica
by Mr.Shabo
Summary: Series of one shots that follows the adventures of Prince Edward during his summer in Atlantica, these stories will be the connection between "How Really Happened" and the upcomig sequel. I do not own TLM or any other character/song mentioned in the story, They all belong to Disney- R&R
1. The Return of Ariel

"The Return of Ariel"

* * *

The sun began to reflect under the sea, the palace of King Triton was beginning to have joy again, the grandson of the king, Edward was finishing his first week in Atlantica, but that was not the only thing that animated the spirit of the old merman, that day Ariel would visit her old home, along with his granddaughter, Melody.

The king got up early to finish the preparations of the celebration, he wanted everything to be perfect for the occasion, the last time that Ariel was in Atlantica wasn´t for a good reason, besides that was officially the first time Melody was visiting the kingdom. Meanwhile the king was preparing his court, his faithful adviser Sebastian was not enjoying so much the task that the king requested, he had to be preparing Edward for the noon.

The crab clearly was scared, because the question that was giving circles in his head was, where was Edward?

"Oh no, what will the king say? Has not gone even an hour and already I lost the boy," the crab said to himself as he walked through the hallway. "Because I looked it up in his room, in the kitchen and even in the gardens."

Sebastian then decided to go to Flounder´s place to know if by chance Edward was in his house, to which the yellow fish denied and also said that Finic was not at home. It was then that the two old friends set off in search of the kids, just to surprise them playing and swimming with a group of turtles and having fun.

"Edward!" exclaimed Sebastian. The little redhead was surprised to see Flounder and Sebastian who weren´t in a very good mood waiting for them on the shore of the open sea.

The two kids approached to the adults who were repressing them not only by putting themselves in danger, but also for not asking permission to go out to play.

"By Neptune, why did you leave your homes without telling us?" Sebastian said annoyed at the two boys, "do you know what would say your grandfather if you learn that you left the palace without letting us know?" Edward simply shook his head.

Edward and Finic promised to leave their respective homes telling the adults where they would go. Seeing the kids´ regret Sebastian and Flounder decided to not tell King Triton about what happened.

"Oh mon, just don´t do that again, remember that you promised your mother to be good and obedient."

Edward nodded and started their way to the palace.

Back in the palace, trying to lift the spirit of the prince, Sebastian tried to say the real reason of why he was looking for him.

"So Edward, have you spoke with the king about what was going to happen today?" asked the crab.

"Um...no," replied the boy while he finished to accommodate his hair, and washed his face "What was going to happen today?" he asked as he left his room and headed to the throne room.

Just at the moment in which Sebastian was about to answer Edward stopped and his gaze marked a bright smile to see that next to his grandfather, were Ariel and Melody.

"Mommy!" the child exclaimed while swimming at full speed to the arms of his mother. Ariel simply smiled to see her child, she was happy to know that their relationship improved.

After greeting Ariel, Edward turned to his sister and asked how things were going in their home on the surface.

A few minutes after a messenger arrived to warn them that the food was already ready to be served.

The family headed to the bottom of the room to be able to enjoy a nice lunch, all seemed very happy, both Edward and Melody laughing, and the King Triton talking with his daughter.

"So Ariel, Did you have the chance to bond with Melody? King Triton asked to the mermaid.

Ariel nodded smiling, "Yes, Eric and I already talked with her and we told her the truth of everything, from how we met and the reason of why we built the wall."

"And how did she took it?"

"Definitely very different as Edward," replied Ariel, "I believe that after having faced Morgana, she understood why we wanted to keep them safe."

The king gave the reason to her daughter and they continued to enjoy the lunch.

Finishing off the meal, Ariel decided to plan an activity with her children, she have never had the opportunity to take them to explore with her.

"Melody, as it is the first time you visit properly Atlantica, what do you think to go on a tour of some of the places I used to visit?" Ariel looked at Edward who seemed confused to tell to Melody and not to him, "I'm sure that your brother will also be excited to show you the places he has visited." said Ariel winking the eye to her son.

"You mean it?" asked the girl.

Ariel nodded, "So, what do you say?"

Melody smiled at her mother and grabbed his old bag "when do we leave?"

Ariel told King Triton that they were going to leave for a few hours and come back to chat and drink tea.

The merman felt a little nervous for the decision of his daughter, perhaps already she was not the girl that used to get in trouble, but he knew that deep within her, there was her adventurous spirit, and the fact that she would go with their children didn´t help very much.

Triton couldn't say no to his daughter, because she was already an adult, so he simply told her to be careful and watch her children, especially Edward, since he was the most active of the three of them.

It was then that Ariel, Melody and Edward walked out of the palace.

* * *

Ariel decided to take them to a sunken ship, a recent one, since it was not yet so worn out, Edward and Melody were discussing how things had improved for both, and how really this was the first summer that they were enjoying.

Suddenly the three noticed a strange glow in one part of the ship. Edward didn't think twice and tried to lead it to that light.

"Edward no!" Ariel exclaimed, "We don't know what that is." The boy frowned and returned to where Ariel and Melody were.

"Hey mom, is this place safe?" said Melody.

"What do you mean sweetie?" asked Ariel.

"Don't you think that there could be sharks here? Because we are a little far away, and there aren't many creatures around here," replied the girl.

Ariel simply giggled at the comment of her daughter, to which Melody looked at her confused. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Nothing like that Melody," Ariel walked up to the girl, "it's just that you remembered me to Flounder, let´s say that he was afraid even of his shadow when we went out to collect things."

Edward listened to the conversation of his mother and sister, but he continued to think in that light he had seen.

The mention of Flounder made him remember that if Finic were with him, they would already be investigating this mysterious light. Ariel didn´t want to admit it because of her children, but she was a little boring, time ago she would be saving several treasures, without even noticing, but now knowing that they were and even knowing that she already had many of them on land, the weren´t so interesting now.

"Wow Mel, look at this sword," Edward said to his sister while collecting the mentioned object. Ariel noticed immediately that Edward and Melody were playing with a real gun, so she decided to take it off her child.

"Hey what are you doing?" she asked Edward to Ariel.

"What I had to do, you don't have the age to use, much less to have a sword, you're just a baby." Ariel explained.

"Mom, I've told you hundreds of times that I'm not a baby, in a few weeks I will be turning 7 years old," Edward replied to his mother, "...and dad lets me play with swords in the house."

"But those swords aren´t real, they're toys, and you don´t know how to use this, I don't want you to hurt yourself or hurt others by accident."

Edward frowned and continued watching the ship, Ariel told her kids that they could see if it were something outside of the ship, because there were instances that they could collect more interesting things outside the boat than inside of it.

Melody and Edward came out of there talking quietly."Eddie, it´s just me, or mom really failed at trying to be funny?"

"What I know from the stories I´ve heard from grandfather, she was much worse than the two of us together," Edward answered, "Nah, on second thought, I believe that I can overcome mom in a few years."

"By the way, I also want to know that was a thing that was shining inside of the boat," told Melody to her brother.

"I know, we can see what is it, we can try to convince her, you know, to tell her that we just want to go see."

The two siblings returned to the ship and went over to their mother.

"Um mother, Eddie and I really have curiosity about the light that shone do you think that we can go to see what it is? Just watch," said the girl to Ariel.

The mermaid was thinking for a few moments about what Melody told her, if they really were not going to touch anything there was no problem, besides she was the one who invited her children to explore the boat, so she accepted.

They headed over to the part of the boat that was shining, but to the surprise of Ariel, what they found was not an object of the surface, but one of the sea.

"Well, I think that the ship could belong to pirates," said Ariel, "I remember this shiny thing," she explained as she held up the youth stone. Edward by his own, noticed a small flute that was lying at the bottom of the room, so the little boy swam up to it. Melody began to ask her mother what it was that stone.

But just as Ariel was about to explain to Melody holding the stone, Edward accidentally played the flute.

A glow of magic filled the room and when they were finally able to see, Ariel had changed, someone who had a very good view would be aware of the small details, but Edward and Melody didn´t noticed the change in their mother.

"Mom?" said in unison the siblings.

The mermaid looked confused, "who are you calling mom? My name is Ariel."

Melody thought it was only a joke made by Ariel, so she just ignored the response of the mermaid and instructed her to continue seeing things.

But to the surprise of both children, Ariel was excited to see a table of the ship, a fork."Perhaps you have not seen something more wonderful in your entire life? A dinglehopper."

Edward and Melody were even more confused to the comment of their mom.

"Uh...mom, that´s only a fork, we have many of those at home, remember?" said Edward. Ariel looked at him with a nervous smile "why do you tell me mom? Every time you say that I feel that I´m a 30 year old, I'm only 16, and I don´t remember, I´ve just seen a few of this objects."

Edward and Melody were frozen upon hearing this, this really wasn´t a joke, their mother didn´t even remembered them _, What will have occurred for these to happen?, Is it something irreversible?_ Were the questions that roamed through their heads.

"Mo...Ariel, it will be best for all of us that you return to the palace, I'm a little tired." Ariel ignored completely Melody and came up with Edward to ask him to take care of the sword that, without remembering she had removed the boy.

"Oh, this is bad," whispered Melody to her brother.

"Why? Mom is cool and she gave me back the sword, isn´t that what we wanted?" Edward answered her.

Ariel started to swim off the boat without even warn the boys, so they decided to follow her.

"Ariel, where are you going?" asked the boy.

"Oh I'm just going to go to the surface to ask my friend Scuttle what are these things," replied Ariel showing him melody´s bag.

 _Ok, this is serious, the fact that mom wants to ask Scuttle about things of the human world only means that we have to solve this now,_ Melody thought.

"Ariel wait," Edward got in their way before continuing. "Why go with Scuttle when we can we help you?" Edward gave a look to his sister to help him.

"Oh yes, what happens is that we are experts about the world of the humans," continued Melody.

Ariel decided to trust the guys and without realizing it returned to the Atlantica.

During the trip Ariel asked them about every single human object that was in Melody´s bag, the black haired girl noticed a little late, that her mother used her bag to collect her own treasures.

"Ariel…um, where are the things that were in the bag?" asked Melody.

Ariel, who was racing Edward to the palace turned to Melody and calmly answered "Oh yeah, I dropped them on that ship, girl they´re just sea stuff, the human ones are the most valuable."

Melody was really angry with this younger version of her mother, she didn´t say anything because she was afraid that when they turn her in a grown up again she could be punished for the rest of the summer.

When they were close to the palace Ariel stopped by a moment. "Hey Melody and Edward," both kids were surprised that at least she remembered their names "before we get in the palace, try not to mention in front of my father that you know a lot from the human world."

"Why not?" asked Edward.

"Because he…hates humans, and he will be pissed off if he finds out that you too disobey the order of not having any contact with humans." Ariel explained.

Both of the kids tried to contain their smiles about what her mother said, and they were confused at the same time, _Did grandpa hated humans that much? Still hard to believe that mom was able to marry dad._

"Oh yeah, no problem," said Melody a little more calmed.

* * *

Melody and Edward agreed to ask for the help of King Triton, as he perhaps would know what to do.

Melody stayed with Ariel to try to figure out who knew so much of the human world or about some of the events that had led to her birth.

Edward on the other hand drove at full speed to the palace.

"Grandfather?" the old merman was as it was almost customary in his throne.

"What happened Edward? Are you all right?" the king asked his grandson.

Edward didn't really know how to answer that, he just told him to please follow to him.

Just at that moment Ariel and Melody came into the room, the redhead mermaid approached the king to greet him as if she hadn't seen him during the day.

The king noticed that Ariel looked and acted like a teenager. Meanwhile Edward went up to Melody to ask who'd made it.

Melody said that Ariel told her that she had saved Eric from drowning the night before."Are you sleeping well daddy?" asked Ariel. "You look...different?" Ariel didn't want to tell the king that I looked older.

"I'm fine Ariel," said Triton to his daughter. Edward and Melody turned to him to tell them to follow the current, which was arguing with her.

After he did that Ariel went out to the gardens, the king reached out to the children to ask them what had happened. They told him that they had gone to a sunken ship, and that Ariel was no letting them do many things, but then she allowed them to go see something that was shining in the boat.

Edward explained that it was a rock that had been found and that the then had found a flute and touched it, and simply Ariel already was again a teenager.

The merman rubbed his beard, trying to find a cause of the problem, he didn´t remembered the time when he was transformed into a child due to the youth stone too. He decided to take the flute that Edward had and gave it a look.

At that time Flounder and Finic arrived to the palace, Triton, Melody and Edward explained them what happened, Ariel got into the room to put the stone in the jewelry box of the king, but when Ariel was getting the stone from Melody´s bag, Edward, played the flute as he finished telling the story.

So it was that the room lit up and Ariel returned to be transformed, the problem, Ariel was no longer 16 years old, she was 10.

"Hey why all you guys see me like that?" said the girl "I have not done anything wrong." Ariel saw Finic, and believing that he was Flounder swam to hug him.

"Flounder!" Ariel exclaimed, "Where have you been?"Finic turned to see all others without knowing what to say, because he didn´t knew Ariel, much less would know what to tell her.

Flounder said to him between sign language that he simply had to play with her pretending he was Flounder, so Finic decided to behave as he did with Edward.

While Finic managed to help by distracting Ariel while the others were trying to figure out how to again rejuvenate.

A few stated that it happened why Ariel held the youth stone and others because Edward played the flute. It was then that the King Triton observed very well the stone; he ordered no one to hold it and asked Edward, to play the flute.

To the surprise of all, at the time that Edward played the instrument, the stone began to radiate light."It was both!" exclaimed Flounder, "as Ariel was holding the stone while Edward touched accidentally the flute, Ariel rejuvenated."

They all looked worried, "then what shall we do?" said Melody.

Edward and Melody were more concerned than the others, _what would be of them without Ariel? What if she stayed like that forever? What would they say to their dad?_

It was then that Edward came up with an idea, if they make Ariel to care about something, perhaps she could grow up, the problem was, of what was afraid a 10 year old girl without control?

"Grandfather, what feared my mom at that age?" asked the boy, "If we make her feel fear, we can get her back to normal."

The merman began to remember about his daughter, he knew that there had to be something that Ariel will have fear or worry.

"As I remember, after Athena was captured by pirates, Ariel was afraid of the human world for a long time." To this fact Melody and Edward looked with curiosity to their grandfather.

Then suddenly Sebastian entered the room with haste, "Your majesty, you are not going to believe what I saw, Ariel is...a little girl again!"

"We know that Sebastian, we're trying to how to fix it," replied the king.

Edward and Melody followed Ariel and Finic to start their plan.

"Finn!" Edward called his friend. When the guppy were alongside the kids he told them that Ariel was very good playing hide and seek and that she still believed that he was Flounder, but she was starting to make him fell unconfortable.

"What do you mean unconfortable?" asked Edward.

"Every time she has the opportunity she tells me that I´m her best friend...and I don´t know what to say," answered the yellow guppy.

"Just tell hher what your father would say, remember, she thinks that you´re Flounder."

"Hey it´s hard to me to pretend to be my dad, he gets scared by everything, and during my six years of life I can tell you that I just been scared less than 5 times."

Edward and Melody decided to take care of this aged problem by their own. So they get closer where Ariel was and they tried to convince her about going up to the surface.

"Come on Ariel, it´ll be fun," said Melody.

"I..I don´t want, it scares me," said Ariel with tears in her eyes. Melody turned to see her brother, who was astonished like her in a bad way, they made her mother cry, pr at least a younger version of her.

Edawrd regretting his actions kept trying to make her go to the surface, he grabbed her slender arm, but Ariel was strong enough to free herself and swam back to home.

When they were about to follow her and take her by their own they saw a shining that illuminated the area, they could see that Ariel was 16 again.

Melody and Edward were happy to see that everything was turning out well, but they knew that trying to get Ariel out to the surface wasn´t going to work, because that was something that she did with no problem.

Edward then knew what he had to do, maybe Ariel not remembered him, or Melody, but the maternal instinct in her was growing stronger with the passing of the years.

So it was that I made the attempt final."What are you doing?" asked Melody, "You're going to hurt yourself."

Edward looked at her with sadness and despair to see that Ariel seemed not paying attention, "I want my mom back."

It was then that he directed the tip of his finger against the sword, leading to a slight but painful cut. Ariel, who saw what had happened, began to feel bad for the little boy, because she would not tolerate to see children suffer, and much less cry.

At the time we went over to the small there was a last glow of light that illuminated the area. "You now see why I said that this sword was dangerous," said Ariel, taking the hand of Edward, and by sitting him on her fin. "Let me see," the mermaid noted the injured finger of her son and with a little scarf that she wore she covered the wound.

"Mom!" Melody and Edward shouted in unison while hugging their mother.

After a while, Ariel and Melody returned to Atlantica to have tea time as Ariel promised, say goodbye and return to the surface, but not before giving back the sword to Edward, as long as he only use it for emergencies."One more thing," said Ariel to her children, "I don't remember much of what happened today, but thank you for helping me." The three embraced warmly, "And yes, sometimes I want to overreact and even ruining your fun, but I do it because I love you guys."

"Never change that mom," said Melody while she hugged her.

Edward said goodbye to his mother and his sister in the palace, as the day had ended and I had to prepare to start a new one.

* * *

 **So, this is the first of five one shots that will be leading to the sequel of What Really Happened, these stories will set about Edward´s summer in Atlantica and will introduce new characters and see how they interact with the old gang. This first chapter is quite a remake of the LM series episode "Red" Don´t forget to R &R.**


	2. Visits

Visits

It was a quiet morning in the palace, it was starting Edward´s second week in Atlantica. with the permission of his parents he accepted the offer of his grandfather, King Triton of visiting the world of which he had been forbidden for almost 7 years.

Several events had happened two weeks ago, his sister Melody had fled of their palace after having a discussion with their mother during her birthday, his parents told him the truth about her mother being a mermaid in the past and the reason of why he and Melody couldn´t cross beyond that such hated wall that divided land and sea.

He even met his grandfather who gave him a very special ring that turned him into a merboy; with the help of his best friend Finn they all helped defeating the evil sea witch Morgana.

Edward stood for a moment motionless on the bed with the intention to continue to sleep, but remembered the rule that Ariel had given him to stay in the palace, so he rushed himself and got up from the bed.

When Edward left the room he stumbled upon his grandfather, who was looking for him. Each day the kid learned to know the old merman, he realized that his grandfather was quite serious and it was easy to perceive that he was very patient given to the curiosity of the boy.

"Good morning Edward, did you sleep well?" asked the king.

"Very well, thank you Grandfather," replied the child while he made a small bow. His parents had taught him and Melody since he could remember how to greet someone of royalty.

"I´m glad to hear that, where are you going by the way?" Edward turned to the merman to tell him his plans for the whole day.

"I´m on my way to see Finic, we´re going to the reef and play for a couple of hours, then I thought that you wouldn´t mind if he came here to the palace and maybe order a pizza, because honestly, Atlantica have the best pizza of the world,"

"Um Edward…" King Triton tried to talk.

"Yeah I know the ingredients that merpeople uses for pizza down here are different from the ones that are used on land but…"

"No Edward, I didn´t want to say that." The old king rubbed for a moment his long white beard; he didn't know how to explain to his grandchild that those plans would change a little. "Edward, maybe you should go on another occasion to the reef, today we have visitors at the palace and I wish that you are here to meet them."

Triton noticed the expression of displeasure of Edward, so he tried to make his grandson feel better by telling him that Finic would be there in the palace anyway, accompanying Flounder.

Edward went with King Triton to have breakfast and then went to get ready to receive the awaited visits. While he was brushing his hair, Sebastian entered the room to give him company. The old crab visited Edward once a day to keep an eye on him, as the king had instructed him when the kid was born.

"Why so worried child?" asked the crab.

"It's nothing, it's just that..."Edward looked at his friend with concern, "I don´t know these visits that mentions grandfather."

Sebastian, who already knew who these guests were, simply smiled to the redhead boy, "oh Edward, don´t worry about that, and I´m sure you are going to like them."

"Then you also know who´s coming to the palace?" Sebastian, already at the door giggled. "Oh yeah, well I don´t want to rush you but they will arrive in any time."

Edward went out of his room and went to meet King Triton, he saw two tables with food and, in the background, as always, his grandfather sat on the throne, but he wasn´t alone.

There was a man with a green fin, thin, and his hair and his short beard blond. At his side a young mermaid with salmon color fin, with short and brown hair, and in the middle of both a small girl. She didn´t seem to be older than him, in fact she looked like a 6 year old girl, she was blonde like her father, with green eyes and a violet fin.

"Oh Edward, I´m glad that you join us" said his grandfather seeing that the boy was approaching. "I want to introduce you to Urchin, his wife Gabriela and their daughter Rebecca." Edward greeted each one of them.

Urchin behaved very sympathetic with Edward, he mentioned that he and Gabriela were friends of Ariel and that they had heard a lot of him and Melody.

Edward turned to see his grandfather, who, to answer the question that the kid had in mind said: "Sebastian has always kept me aware about you and your sister."

* * *

After sometime talking, Flounder came to the palace together with his guppies; Finic immediately came to the table where Edward and Rebecca were sat.

Edward felt more relaxed when he saw his friend, because he could tell that the girl was nervous standing next to him, since her head was down, and also extended to him as royalty. Finishing lunch, the two friends tried to convince the king, to allow them to go to the reef as they had planned.

"Grandfather...I was wondering...since I already know the visits," the king turned to his grandson, who still was a little nervous when he talked to him, "do you think Finn and I can go to the reef?"

The king wanted to allow his grandson and let him and his friend have some fun, but his instructions couldn´t change; the boy had to understand that having visitors in the palace wasn´t a common activity, mostly if those visitors were old friends as Urchin and Gabriella were.

"I´m sorry Edward, but no" the king said "At least not today."

Edward frowned at his grandfather, letting him know that he didn´t like that answer and then he turned around and sat along with Finic to make a plan.

The merboy gave Rebecca a stern look, while she was finishing her meal; he was mad at her, if it wasn´t for her, things would´ve been a lot different, he could be having fun at the reef instead of getting bored in the palace.

"So, what do you your grandfather said Eddie?" Finic asked with hope in his voice, he wasn´t having the time of his life either, so he was waiting for good news.

"What we didn´t want to hear, he said not today," repeated the boy trying to imitate his grandfather.

Both kids shared a sad look while they felt defeated; meanwhile Rebecca went to the dessert table to pick a piece of cake.

"Why they had to come today?" said Edward to his friend, looking at the girl who didn´t noticed they were talking about her. "Why today, after all we both did to get permission? It even looks like they did it on purpose to have an excuse for not letting us go.

Finic seemed to agree with Edward, but he didn´t think that it was Rebecca´s fault, or her parents´.

"Eddie, don't you think you´re being a bit rude with her? I mean, she hasn´t been so social with us, maybe she didn´t want to come here," Edward turned to see the girl who was returning to her seat.

"And I don´t know, maybe going to the reef wouldn´t be fun as we thought."

The merboy, surprised by Finic´s words didn´t hesitated and turned to have eye contact with Rebecca, Edward was furious now, everything he had planned for that day was ruined.

Rebecca seemed to be even more nervous, everybody could see that, so Finic, in order to make the meal, or at least the dessert quite more enjoyable started to talk with the mermaid.

"Hi, I´m Finic." The guppy said trying to have a conversation with her.

The blonde just whispered the answer, her eyes stuck in her cupcake, trying to ignore Edward´s angry look.

The prince gave a quick look at the table next to them, he could see his grandfather, Sebastian, Flounder and Rebecca´s parents laughing and having a good time. _Why grandfather doesn´t care, I´m so boring and he and his guests are very happy, I hate this._

"This is your fault!" Edward shouted to the girl "If it wasn´t for you Finn and I would be playing on the reef, but no, you had to come and ruin everything." The blonde started to shake full of fear because of Edward´s rage.

Even the adults turned around to see what was happening, Edward´s shout was loud enough to be heard on the whole room.

* * *

King Triton was the first of them to stand from the table to reprimand his grandson with Sebastian, while Urchin and Gabriella comforted their daughter and Flounder asked Finic to tell him the whole story.

Before Triton started yelling at Edward, Urchin gave him the idea of talk with both kids, instead of yelling. He was a truly believer of _speak, no yell_ method.

A tearful Rebecca and an angry Edward were called by the sea king. Sebastian didn´t care about Urchin´s idea, he started to reprimand the merboy, even when Finic was called by Triton too, let Edward know that he was rude with the girl.

"What is your problem child?" Sebastian asked. "That girl was so nervous already and you didn´t care?

Ignoring the fact that Edward was stubborn in a lot of things, he wasn´t a bad kid, he wasn´t raised as a spoiled prince, so he started to feel guilty when he saw Rebecca crying while Urchin carried her.

"Fine Edward, go to your room you´re punished." King Triton said to the boy. "Sebastian, after our guests leave the palace I want you to tell Ariel what happened today."

"Yes your majesty," the crab answered.

On his way to his room, Edward was really scared, he never saw his grandfather so angry. He was afraid of what his parents will do to him.

When he entered his room, which a long time ago belonged to his mother and her sisters, the boy started to feel really bad for Rebecca.

 _What would mom and dad say if they have seen how I spoke to Rebecca? I´m sure that as Finic told me, Melody wouldn´t be on my side on this. Not even myself right now._

Edward was thinking on an idea, he had to do something, after all he was a prince, he needed to care about the people of his world…both worlds.

While he was lying on bed thinking of all different kind of punishments his parents and his grandfather could give him, Finic entered in the room.

"Eddie?" asked the guppy who was quite nervous of how his friend could react after all what happened.

"Hey Finn" Edward answered sadly and guilty to his best friend; he knew very well that Finic could give him some advices or at least company.

"Are you okay?"

The prince stood quiet for a moment thinking his answer, _of course I´m not okay, I just yelled to an innocent girl and I don´t know how to fix what I did_.

Edward knew very well he couldn´t lie to Finic, he may not know him since they were both babies, but they knew each other very well, after all they were best friends. Plus he didn´t want to lie to him, he just needed to talk to someone.

"No Finn, actually I feel…like a dumb" answered the merboy still looking at the ceiling of the bedroom "I hurt Rebecca, she didn´t deserve that."

Finic just nodded letting Edward know that he shared his opinion,

"What should I do? I mean grandfather I can´t get out of the room and apologize with everyone, especially her. She wouldn´t buy it even if it´s true."

Finic giggled while Edward gave him a confused look.

"What´s so funny?"

"You have the answer in front of you and you don´t even notice." Finic answered to his friend´s question.

Knowing that Edward still didn´t understand what he was trying to say, Finic decided to explain to him. "Eddie, if you really feel guilty you should tell them, your grandfather and Sebastian must know that you´re telling the truth, they know you, mostly Sebastian."

After being giving Edward some courage, Finic left the palace with Flounder. Edward stood in his room for a couple of minutes after his friend and he went to the throne room to look for Rebecca.

* * *

He realized that they all were gone, not even his grandfather, so he started to look everyone in the palace, fortunately for him he found Sebastian in one of the halls.

The crab didn´t seem to be friendly as always "Edward, what are you doing out of your room?" the old crab reprimand the merboy.

"Sebastian, where´s everyone?"

"On the gardens, but don´t think that you can come, not after what you did."

"Sebastian…I know what I did, the way I yelled at Rebecca wasn´t good, I just want to apologize to her and her parents and after that… I will return to the surface."

Sebastian didn´t believe at all what Edward was saying, so he glared at him.

"Come on Sebastian, you know me, remember when I broke my mom´s favorite necklace, imagine that guilt increased by ten."

The kid´s guardian could see the honesty in his eyes; he knew Edward was a good boy, so he allowed him to go to the gardens.

When they arrived Edward could see the adults playing cards and Rebecca staying in her father´s lap.

King Triton saw when Edward entered the doors, but when he noticed that Sebastian was with him he didn´t reprimanded him.

"Um Mr. Urchin…would you allow me to speak with Rebecca?" Edward asked the young merman. "Please." Urchin amazed by Edward´s tone told him that he hadn´t no problem, but it was his daughter´s choice. The girl hesitated for a moment but then she nodded.

Both children went to the other side of the room; that was because Edward felt less nervous if he apologizes with her in private and not in front of everyone.

"Rebecca I…" the boy really didn´t know how to start, because he clearly knew that a simple _I´m sorry_ wasn´t enough. "Rebecca I acted like a completely dumb, I got mad with my grandfather because he changed the plans that I had for today and because of the fact that I needed to stay here in the palace. I know that I hurt you and I´m so sorry."

The girl just stared at him, she didn´t say a word when he was talking, she didn´t know why, but she just knew that he was speaking from the heart. The boy that was in front of her was a whole different person that the kid that yelled at her a couple of hours ago.

Seeing that Rebecca didn´t say something, Edward decided to turn around and go with the adults to apologize with him. However, he felt how a little hand hold his left arm to let him know to stay.

"Your majesty." Said the blonde, "there´s no problem…I understand that feeling." Edward looked at her a little confused.

"My plans have changed too, and it didn´t help the fact of being nervous of coming to the palace, since I remember I´ve always been afraid of coming here," continued the girl.

Edward felt a little more relaxed when she started to talk more fluently and with no hesitation, he was just thinking that maybe he was making a new friend.

"So…you were nervous because of the palace?" asked the merboy.

When Rebecca nodded, Edward had an idea, the way he could make her feel comfortable, and a way to say _I´m sorry_ , a right one. Before telling her, he reached to the table where his grandfather and Sebastian were.

He asked the king to allow him to give Rebecca a tour for the palace, and then he turned to Urchin and Gabriella and apologized for treating their daughter the way he did.

"Don´t worry Edward, it happens to all of us, and actually I should say thank you." Urchin said to the little redhead.

"What for?" the young prince asked.

"Because…" he got closer to Edward looking at Rebecca "I haven´t seen that smile today."

After that Edward and Rebecca left the gardens and started their tour for the palace, he showed her every single room, every detail of the structure and the places he liked the most.

"You know your highness, you´re more nicely that I thought, I believed that you were just being yourself at mealtime."

"Yeah…about that, just call me Eddie, it feels quite uncomfortable when people treat me like royalty."

"But isn´t that what you are?" asked Rebecca.

"Yes, but my parents raised me letting me know that just for being a prince, that didn´t make me more that every person in the kingdom." Edward answered "Actually if my mom have been here at meal and she would´ve seen how I acted you can be sure that right now I would be washing the floor of every room."

Rebecca could see that Edward was behaving better and better and that she was having a good time with him. "Well, in that case, all that happened a few hours ago will be our secret."

Edward was glad to know that the girl already forgave him for what he did, but that didn´t change the fact that he will be in serious trouble after she and her family leave the palace.

Trying to change the topic of their conversation Edward asked Rebecca to tell her the story of how her parents met his mother, because he never heard that story before due to the wall.

That´s how she told him about Urchin and Gabriella, their respective adventures with Ariel and how she made them fall in love. After a few hours of talking and laughing, Sebastian entered Edward´s room and told Rebecca that her family was returning home.

* * *

When they arrived at the throne room again, King Triton and Sebastian were saying good bye to Urchin and Gabriella, Edward was a little confused at the fact that the young couple was treating him with a great kindness, even after what he did, they didn´t show displeasure or something.

"Well, I hope to see you again." Edward said to the blonde mermaid.

"With one condition," Rebecca said "next time let´s go somewhere funnier than here." Edward smiled when he heard that, especially because he had a new friend, he was excited about that idea, next time Finic will be there with them, _with more friends, more fun_ , thought the kid.

"Oh, and just call me Becky…Eddie." The girl said punching friendly Edward´s arm.

"Guys, it was so good to see you again," expressed King Triton to his old friends. It was clearly that the old merman was more active than a few years ago.

After Urchin, Gabriella and Rebecca left the palace, King Triton turned to his advisor.

"Well Sebastian, you may go out to the surface to tell everything to Ariel." The king said.

Edward knew that after all he earned that, but it didn´t change the fact that he was scared about what Ariel would tell him. _Oh no, I´m going back to the surface, there´s no doubt of it, I´m going to be punished the rest of the summer. Mom and dad won´t be happy._ Edward said to himself.

Triton, who knew that Edward really felt guilty about what he did decided to not tell his daughter about Edward´s behavior.

"Tell Ariel that Edward made a friend today, and that I hope that the next time she comes to visit, she brings Melody and Eric."

While he saw Sebastian swimming to the surface, Edward got the chance to ask his grandfather why he changed his mind of telling Ariel the truth.

"Edward, you´re so young and still, you have the courage to face your mistakes and accept the consequences, besides you know how to fix the things you did," Triton said as he sat on his throne.

Edward couldn´t believe what he heard, King Triton himself, his grandfather telling him that he´s a brave kid

The king nodded, "I didn´t seem fair still getting you a punishment, I would agree if you haven´t learn of your actions or being loyal to your mistake, but after all it seems that you made a good impression."

"Do you think that grandfather?" asked the boy.

Triton gave a little smile to his grandson and nodded. He knew very well Urchin and Gabriella, and he was sure that both of them liked Edward. Actually he didn´t told Edward, but before they left Urchin told him that they were leaving the palace happy because of Rebecca, she clearly had a nice time after all.

Before going back to his room, Edward turned to hug his grandfather and thank him for what he did.

Both of them were happy that finally they could spend time together and know each other, but what Edward didn´t know was that Triton´s main reason of not telling Ariel about Edward´s behavior was that he missed that felling of worry that she gave him every time when she lived at the palace.

And Edward clearly took that from his mother and so Melody, that made Triton feel alive again, and that was all that mattered.

* * *

 **A/N: OK guys, I´m really, really sorry for taking me a LOT of time to update, the good reason is that my computer died and I had to purchase a new one, and it took me time, but don´t worry, I´m still writing the next one shots to begin with the sequel. Don´t forget to R &R.**


	3. New Kid

The New Kid

* * *

It was a shiny morning in Atlantica, it was almost Edward´s birthday, but it was the only thing that he had in mind, he was very excited not only because it will be the first year that his whole family will be reunited, it was even better, he will spend his birthday on Atlantica.

Edward with a bright smile across his face went to the throne room to greet his grandfather, after speaking with him about some plans he had, they were surprised when Sebastian entered the room very nervous.

"Sebastian what´s the matter?" asked Triton "I didn´t see you like this since you told me that Ariel had saved Eric from drowning."

The old crab continued to look anxious and just looked at the king.

"He´s coming, you´re majesty, today, I´ve received the message a few minutes ago".

"Who, who´s coming Sebastian," a curious Edward asked a little worried.

Sebastian turned to the merboy "my brother´s grandson, Jacob".

Triton frowned and came stood from his throne, he wasn´t mad at Sebastian, he didn´t know about this, and more than his advisor, he was his best friend since a long time.

The fact was, he didn´t expect now having three kids around the palace, he rubbed his beard and called the crab.

"Well Sebastian, I´m sure Edward won´t mind having a roommate for a few days." The crab still afraid approached to the king to tell him something.

"The problem your majesty is that he will stay with me the rest of the summer" he turned to see Edward and continued, "The thing is that my nephew heard that I am good…watching problematic children. So he decided to send him with me."

Sebastian left the room and waited for his grandnephew to arrive. Edward by the other hand went to Finic´s house to tell him the news.

"So what you´re telling me is that now you will have a roommate," said Finic a little jealous. He was worried that Edward could replace him with Jacob as his new best friend.

"Yup, but don´t worry you can still go and stay the weekend as we planned, It´s just that it feels weird," Edward said "I´ve never had a roommate before.

"I thought that on land you and Melody shared the bedroom, that's what I do with my siblings," Finic said.

"That's not how human houses work, or well, at least for me."

"Oh right your majesty," said the guppy joking with his friend.

Edward and Finic began their journey to the palace talking about how the human world was. Edward even suggested the idea of asking to his grandfather to allow Finic become a human for a couple of days to show him his customs and obligations as a prince.

* * *

After half an hour a seahorse messenger arrived in the prince's room telling him that both merboy and guppy were required in the throne room.

King Triton, Sebastian and Flounder were there. Even knowing that they weren´t in trouble, Edward was a little nervous.

"Boys, I´m glad you´re here," King Triton said.

The kids were curious looking for the new kid, he was standing alongside Sebastian and he was very similar to him.

"Meet Jacob, he will be staying with us for a while, we will leave you here to get to know each other better." The old merman said while he and the others were leaving the room.

The three kids stood quiet for a moment Edward as always tried to start a conversation.

"So, you´re Sebastian's nephew?"

"His grandnephew…but yes." "Are you Edward the prince of land and sea?!" asked the little crab. "Yes and he is… Edward couldn´t finish because an excited Jacob shook his pincer with his hand obviously without hurting the boy.

"Ok, just let me tell you that you are my idol. I heard all what you did to my gruncle Sebastian you´re a legend," the little crab said.

"Am I?" Edward asked quite surprised.

"Well of course, you and your sister but mostly you, the story of that cookie jar when you were 4 years old…just a classic."

Finic looked at Edward a little confused, he had no idea what they were talking about.

"Long story," said the redhead "by the way Jacob, this is Finic he´s my best friend and the son of Flounder, who´s my mom´s best friend," the boy continued. "Actually if there is a legend in my family making Sebastian going crazy is or well was my mom."

"What happened?" Asked Jacob.

"She grew up and became boring, but now she´s turning cool again," answered the prince.

"Never heard of her," Jacob said. Finic looked a little suspicious.

After a few minutes of speaking, Edward showed Jacob where he was going to stay, while Finn only followed them saying a word or two during the whole tour.

When the three boys were in the room Edward remembered that he had to attend some royal duties, nothing important but his presence was required, so he left Finic and Jacob alone, the silence in the room was in some way scary, it wasn´t a normal silence. Finic tried to be friendly with Jacob so he decided to start a conversation.

"So…where are you from?" the yellow guppy asked, he wanted to be friendly, maybe Jacob wasn´t so bad as he thought.

"From a far ocean from here, I live near Australia." Finic nodded after hearing the answer, Jacob seemed friendly after all, meanwhile Jacob saw a royal guard passing the bedroom.

"Ok I don´t know why I am doing this, please don´t take this personal, but Eddie needs a new best friend."

"What are you talking ab…" Finic wasn´t able to finish the question when Jacob screamed. The guard immediately entered the room asking what happened; the little crab invented a lie telling him that Finic had hit him in the face.

The guard really seemed to not have patience with kids stuff so after a long discussion the guard asked Finic to leave the palace just for the rest of the day.

"Eddie will know, this is not over," Finn said to the crab, who just stood there without saying a word.

"For Neptune kid show more respect for your prince," the guard said. The yellow guppy started to swim as fast as he could out of the castle.

In the concert room, King Triton, his six older daughters and Edward were listening a few songs that Sebastian was working on.

"This is so boring," a sleepy Edward said to his aunt Adella, who seemed sharing the kid´s thought.

"Come on Eddie, it´s not that bad," Arista said. Only Attina and Triton shared her opinion, even Aquata and Alana were asleep in their respective places.

After Sebastian´s concert was done, the merboy was able to leave. When he entered his room, he was surprised when he just found Jacob with a few toys.

"Um Jake, where´s Finn?" asked the prince.

"He left; he told me that he had to do some chores in his house." In that moment Edward knew that Jacob was lying because he knew Finic wasn´t busy that day.

"I don´t think so, see, uncle Flounder always let Finn to come here after doing his chores, so he was free for the rest of the day." Jacob´s face changed after hearing that, "so I´m asking you again, where´s Finn?"

He left, we thought that you were going to be busy for a while so he decided to return to his house and come back tomorrow."

Edward thought that was a good excuse, so he decided to go for some snacks for him and Jacob and bring them to the room. He was about to leave the kitchen when he heard someone called his name. It was Flounder, he was looking for his son.

"Could you please tell Finic it´s time to go," asked his best friend´s father. Edward froze upon hearing that, Finic never leave a place without telling Flounder.

"Jacob told me that he left the palace a few minutes ago."

Flounder was surprised and now worried for his son "I told Finic to wait for me, something happened, we always follow the same routine when we come here. Edward found the same guard that asked Finic to leave outside the room.

"Excuse me, have you seen a yellow guppy with blue stripes around here?" The guard immediately nodded to the merboy and turned to Flounder.

"Sir, are you the guppy´s father?" Flounder answered the question, so the guard continued, "Well you should teach your son to respect other creatures, he punched a little crab and because of that I asked him to leave the palace.

Edward knowing that Finic would never do something like that asked the guard if he really saw what happened, and the answer was no. So as a punishment for the guard Edward told him Flounder and himself needed help looking for Finic.

The guard refused at the beginning, but the young prince persuaded him by a thread.

"If you don't help us to find my friend, I'll tell my grandfather that you without having seen the incident walked out his grandson's best friend." Edward said a bit angry, this wasn't going to end well for Jacob, who at Edward's eyes was a liar.

Edward, Flounder and the guard looked everywhere near the palace, or at least they thought the did that.

"Eddie, does Finn and you have a secret club house where he might have gone?" asked Flounder really worried.

The merboy shook his head, they actually didn't have their club house, which was weird, because every kid on land had a secret place.

Edward then remembered that Finn once told him about what he thought was a secret place but he wasn't able to enter because there was a big rock that blocked the enter.

The kid told Flounder that he was going to check on somewhere else and started to swim as fast as he could.

* * *

Meanwhile King Triton and Sebastian were in the throne room starting to plan Edward's birthday party, Triton himself was excited, not only because his grandson decided to have his party in Atlantica, he was excited because Eric was coming too. He never had the chance to introduce him to the merpeople properly.

He actually liked his son in law, he was the human that changed his perspective about them. And of course he was more than happy to see his little Ariel and Melody again.

Sebastian was helping Triton about what Edward might want as a birthday present.

"But your majesty, that boy already has a gift of yours, and he had lived 6 years without a birthday present for you."

That statement made the old king feel guilty, six years...and Edward was the young one. He secretly have in a room every single birthday present he wanted to give to his grandchildren 12 for Melody and 6 for Edward.

The king then decided to consider giving Edward his own belt and sword, but if he wanted to do that he first needed to ask Ariel and Eric about that. What they didn't know was that Jacob was hearing everything, he even heard when Triton told Sebastian about his secret presents. That gave him the idea of using those gifts and then tell everyone that Finic was the one who needed a punishment.

On the other side of the palace, where no one had gone for a while Edward was looking for his best friend.

He called his name a few times before hearing a sob inside a little cave near there.

"Finn? Is that you?" asked the young prince.

He didn't hear a response, just a little guppy who needed his friend.

"Hey, I know what Jacob did, trust me, he's not going to get whatever he wants."

Finic just stood without telling a word for a few minutes, while Edward just stayed with him.

"He wants to replace me," the little fish said. He explained everything that happened and why Jacob wanted that, that just made Edward more mad at him.

"Well, let's get him.

Before returning to the palace Edward stood in front of the place that Finic told him, which wasn't really far from the cave they were planning their trap for Jacob, he was very curious to know hat was behind that rock, after dealing with Jacob, they were coming back to that place.

Back in the palace and letting Flounder and the guard that Finic was fine and after the guard apologizing with the guppy, both kids started the plan.

The problem was, Jacob wasn't in the bedroom.

Both Edward and Finic went to the throne room to inform King Triton about the situation.

"Grandpa, Jacob isn't in the bedroom, and he...he's a bad kid," after explaining the whole story to the king, Sebastian was very ashamed of his grandnephew.

Then they heard a loud noise upstairs and then a hurried Jacob entered the throne room.

"Your majesty! I just saw it… Finic entered in a room full of toys and he used them and even broke one, you have to…" the crab froze when he saw Finic standing beside Edward.

"Jacob, do you have something to explain, I would be glad to hear your version of the story," the old merman said.

The crab knew he was in big trouble, there was no way out, and he screwed up BIG TIME, he started telling everyone that he just wanted to be Edward´s best friend because he never had the chance to be with royalty.

"But you didn´t have to lie or try to make Finn look like a mean kid, you just had to be yourself," Edward told him.

Jacob was too ashamed that he didn´t make eye contact with anyone, King Triton ignoring the fact of what he had done, spared him and allowed him to stay in the palace with the condition that he needed to fix every single one of the presents that he used.

* * *

After the long talk to Jacob, Edward asked Triton if Finic was able to stay that night in the palace, which as an apologize for all the recent events, the king allowed him.

What Triton didn´t know was that Edward had some plans with his friend that night, while everyone went to bed, the merboy woke up the yellow guppy.

"Hey Finn, Finn!, wake up pal," the red head said trying to do the less noise possible, Finic was very exhausted that didn´t respond the first time.

"Eddie, what´s wrong," said the guppy while he yawned,

"Come on Finn, we need to go, there´s somewhere I want to go."

"Can´t we wait until tomorrow, it´s too late now, besides if we go and someone caught us, your grandfather will be furious."

"Let me worry about grandpa, come on let´s go."

Both friends left the palace carefully and started their journey, Finic was about to ask where they were going, until he stared to remember, they were near the place he went after he left the palace, they stopped in front of the rock that blocked the entrance.

After a few minutes, Edward tried to move the rock, he didn´t knew how but the stone was big, but not heavy, so they were able to enter.

The place looked beautiful with the reflection of the moon in the ocean, they could see that this place was abandoned since a quite long, but someone used to be there.

Both kids looked everywhere in the place, Finic didn´t knew what those things were, but Edward could recognize almost everything, they were human objects, from paintings and books to jewelry.

"Eddie…is this a broken statue," Finn said. Edward turned to Finic and looked at the object, this indeed was a broken statue, but it seemed familiar, he asked himself what could have turned into ashes that statue.

"I think I know where we are…this statue, it has a big E on it and this…" Edward picked up a piece of stone that was in the floor "Finn this is my dad´s face." The fish looked confused, what was that place.

"I think we are in my mom´s secret grotto, she told me about this place, she used to come here to collect human stuff when grandfather banned contact between humans and mermaids."

They returned to the palace after a few minutes and when each one was in their respective bed Edward stared talking about plans for the next day.

Finic stood silent the whole time, Edward could perceive he wasn´t so excited and he knew that. So he decided to make things clear with him.

"Finn I know today was a rough day for you, but let´s make something clear, Jacob will never replace you, I apologize if I ignored you today, but I was just showing him the place…but this place for you and for me, this is home and…Finn, we´re not just friends, we´re family."

The guppy smiled at his friend after hearing that, things were going to be ok for them, they were Eddie and Finn and no one could turn them apart, both kids were ready for adventures for the rest of the summer.

* * *

 **A/N: This is quite hard for me, but this story will continue, not as soon as I expected, but I´m going to try to make a chapter each couple of weeks or per month, I apologize for not uploading but school and work take my whole time.**


	4. Edward s Birthday

Edward´s Birthday (Secret of the Trident)

* * *

The morning in Atlantica felt calmly and happy,it was Prince Edward's birthday, he was turning seven years old. King Triton woke up earlier to bring him one of all the surprises he had planned for his grandson, he went to the surface and turned Ariel, Melody and for the first time Eric, into merpeople.

They all returned to the palace to finish the decorations and the birthday cake, Edward didn't want something so big, just a delicious dessert.

The merboy woke up as usual, he said good morning to his roommate Jacob, who each day started to like him more, and went to brush his teeth.

He then saw himself in the mirror and he could swear he saw a blush behind him, he at first got scared, what could have been, _maybe is just my imagination_ though to himself, but then he saw it again swimming to the other side. When he was about to get out of the room, he finally saw what...who was thw blush

"Happy birthday Eddie," his best friend Finic said while both kids made their secret salute.

"Thanks Finn, wow seven years I still can't believe it," both kids continued talking swimming across the palace, they could see that no one was around, the city looked like a ghost town.

"Why is nobody here, it feels strange being in our own," Edward said.

"Dunno, come on let's go to the grotto, I found something new," Finic replied.

After finding Ariel's old grotto Edward and Finic started to make it their personal secret club, they keep their own stuff in there, obviously without telling King Triton.

Finic decided to keep his new discovery as a surprise, it was a shell that fit perfectly as a ball. He used the grotto's expedition as an excuse, the reason was that Flounder, who was helping Ariel and the others to finish the throne room with party stuff, asked him to keep Edward as far as possible from the palace.

"So Ed, what you want to do," asked the fish.

"I want you to show me what you found,"

"Sorry pal, change of plans I'll show you that later, consider it a birthday surprise."

The prince felt curious for that, but he could wait.

When the time was right the kids returned to the palace, when they entered the throne room they saw the room very dark.

"Surprise!" The whole merpeople cheered, all his family and there were there, the only ones who were abscent were his aunt Attina and his younger cousin Gary.

Edward swim as fast as he could when he saw his family being there, Ariel, Eric and Melody gave Edward a warm family hug.

"You're here guys" Edward said.

"Of course we're here honey, we wouldn't miss your special day for nothing" Ariel said while she gave Edward a kiss on his cheek and a hug.

"Dad, you're a merman," said the boy when he turned to his father " and look our tails are the same color!"

"I hope you liked this little surprise Edward, I´m afraid Attina and Gary couldn´t make it, but they send you good wishes and Gary says that he will be staying next weekend here at the palace," Aquata said, this changed Edward´s mood, he really hoped that Gary could´ve made it, they hang out really well, that was because he was his only cousin and their ages were similar.

The whole family was happy, Edward thanked his grandfather for this big surprise, he talked to Ariel and Eric and they all agreed to give Edward his own sword, just if he got a personal trainer and used it just in case of an emergency and not as a toy.

Meanwhile Jacob was looking for the gift that Finic was going to give to Edward. When he finally found it he took it and started his way to the party.

King Triton was giving a toast in honor for his grandson and then, all the guests started to enjoy the meal.

* * *

Ariel and Eric sat with King Triton, Flounder, Sebastian, Urchin and Gabriella, while Edward and Melody sat with Finic, Rebecca and her brother Alex, who Melody immediately recognized, he was the merboy she met when she went to Atlantica looking for her grandfather's trident.

Ariel then started to tell Triton and the others some stories of Edward as a baby, when the merboy realized that even his friends wanted to hear them, he stopped his mother before she told an embarrassing experience.

"Oh and I remember the time Eddie tried to build a scale ship like the ones Eric has in his study and used milk instead of glue and…"

"Okay mom, you don't have to tell that part, I was 4 remember, now I know that I can't use jelly on scale ships," he was looking at Edward in the table when he realized Jacob wasn't there.

"Wait, speaking of making a mess in the house, does anyone seen Jacob, he tokd me he was going to meet us for meal and he's not here."

Then all of the guests heard a big crash on the kitchen, they all went to see what happened.

They found Jacob, and Edward's birthday cake layed on the floor, and a shell covered in cake.

"For Neptune's sake what happened here!" Triton exclaimed.

The crab told the king that he found that shell on his way to the party and wanted to keep it, but he started playing with it and he didn't saw the cake.

Obviously no one believed him, but that didn't stop Edward for forgive Jacob, he really started to think that all that he was doing was for calling some attention.

King Triton was a different story, he asked everyone to leave them alone, all of them returned to the throne room, just Edward, Ariel and Finic stayed, obviously with Triton and Jacob.

"Now this is what's going to happen, you will clean all this mess and I don't know how, but you will prepare another cake and after that you will return to your room and stay there fo the rest of the day."

The crab who knew he had to do what the king told him stared to clean the floor.

The old merman looked at the shell that caused all of this and was preparing to destroy it.

"Your majesty wait," Finic said " Jacob didn't found that shell...I did, please don't destroy it."

Concerned Triton gave a disappointment look at Finic "so, you're part of this plan, I thought you were decent kid."

"No your majesty, please let me explain, I found that shell very soon in the morning and kept it on our secret clubhouse" said pointing at the merboy "that shell was going to be Edward's birthday gift from me," he then looked at Jacob "but it seems that someone wanted to keep it."

King Triton was so enraged that he didn't listen the explanation that the guppy told him.

"Grampa, you can't do this, Finn is telling the truth, he didn't showed me the shell but he told me about my gift, you can't blame him, it's okay that Jacob clean the mess, but you don't have to do this.

Even Ariel felt sweet that her son's best friend wanted to give him something special. But she knew that, when her father get mad, he usually do what he wants.

She just embraced Edward and then she saw how the trident started to glow, her father's look just bring her bad memories.

"NO!" Edward swam faster than never and grabbed the trident in an attempt of changing the direction of the blast.

But in the moment the boy grabbed the king's weapon, the trident stopped glowing and started to turn into different colors, blasts of pure light came out from it. Triton himself was astonished, only he knew what this wa, only he knew what was happening, but the fact was he hadn´t expected so earlier..

He didn't say a word, he just left the room and went to the gardens.

"Wha...what happened?" asked the young prince.

"I'm not sure honey, now let's go boys," she told Edward and Finic "there's a party out there remember" Ariel then looked at Jacob and saw exactly thesame thing that Edward, he was just a kid wanting to be included "you can come too Jacob."

The little crab, who was still scared of what he just saw turned to see the mermaid.

"Can I?"

"Sure, come on there's still a lot of food and you can help us to finish it."

"Thank you."

When they all returned to the throne room, Eric asked his wife what have happened, but in response she just told him that she didn't know.

* * *

The rest of the afternoon felt weird for everyone, _where is the king? what happened in there_ were common questions in everyone's head.

As they seem that was getting late, Urchin and his family decided to return to their home.

"Ariel, it was so nice to see you, Eric, Melody, it was a pleasure to meet you." Urchin said, while Gabriella nodded.

Alex and Melody just shared smiles while Rebecca gave Edward a friendly punch in his arm.

Flounder and Finic left the palace after quite too, before he left Finic gave Edward his shell clean and ready to use it.

Edward turned to his parents and his sister "so are you guys going home?" Ariel shook her head.

"No honey, we're staying for the weekend, now I'm pretty sure that your grandfather is in the gardens, why don't you go and talk to him."

Edward, really nervous obeyed his mother and he went with his grandfather.

The old king was sitting behind the statue of himself and his beloved Athena, his head had only one thought, Edward grabbing the trident, he was so young, so unprepared, yet he knew deep in his heart he was the best choice.

Edward got closer to his grandfather, he could see he was distracted, but he didn´t understood why.

"Um, grandpa," the boy spoke at the old merman, he just turned his attention to his grandson and invited him to join him to a swim.

The two of them stare at the dark but calmly night at the palace, there is peace, and there will be peace, King Triton broke the silence.

"Edward…about what happened today," the king was interrupted by the boy, apologizing before even knowing that he wasn´t in trouble.

"About today, I haven´t told you about my childhood, but I had a sister, actually two older sisters, when we were growing up, I always thought that our traditions were as the human ones, I thought that the eldest one was going to rule the seas." The king couldn´t find the words to make the little boy could understand what he wanted to tell.

"But after my father´s death my eldest sister…she…she became more serious, colder, in a very bad way, she ruled the sea for a couple of weeks, but nobody liked her, neither of my sisters, the other one always was in her side, both doing what the queen wanted, so I had a discussion with them."

Edward was nervous about this story, why would his grandfather hide his past from him, what he had done.

"After a few minutes, my eldest sister raised the trident and tried to used it against me, but, as I told your sister once, the trident just makes good things, it has its own mind, so it stopped working for her, the other tried to take it and finish the job, but the trident resist too, so I took it and started to glow as it did with you, so I had to take a very difficult choice and made them leave Atlantica."

The king rubbed his beard, he could see that Edward was still unsure of what this conversation was going, the boy broke the silence after not interrupting Triton during his story.

"So, what are you telling me, are you going to make me go back to land?" _I knew I shouldn´t grab the trident, good job Edward_. The merboy thought to himself.

"No Edward…what I´m telling you is that as years ago the trident saw that I had a pure heart and wants to protect my people before my own interest, it saw the same aspects in you, what I´m telling you is that," he didn´t want to say it right now, Edward would be carrying a big responsibility at a very young age and he didn´t want to worry him now.

"After I leave this world, you will take care of Atlantica, you will be the next king."

Edward´s face reflected what he was feeling inside of him, curiosity, excitement and fear, all at once.

Triton told him that he needed to be prepared for leaving land sooner or later, maybe Melody was a good girl, but she wasn´t chosen, she will rule the land, Edward will belong to the sea.

Before leaving Edward turned to his grandfather.

"Grandpa, your sisters, what were their names?" _Maybe they were evil, but they were still family, right?_

Triton made a pause before answering "The eldest, Ursula, the other one, Morgana."

It couldn´t be, the sea witch that took his mother´s voice and the one that almost killed everyone were his grandaunts.

Edward frozen face dissolved after remembering that in the morning Triton wanted everything to be perfect, especially because his little Ariel was here, so Edward came up with an idea after remembering how his mother told him how she met Ursula.

He asked Triton to let him use the trident, he wanted to give his mother a surprise, after listening to his grandson idea, he didn´t hesitate, with that Triton was completely sure why the trident chose Edward, because of his pure heart.

Edward took the trident and stared his way to prepare the surprise.

* * *

After half an hour of learning how to use the trident, Edward approached to his parent´s room, Melody was preparing for bed, but she was going to share room with Edward and Jacob.

"Mom, is it a good moment?" said the boy as he knocked the door.

"Oh Eddie, you´re back, of course, there´s always time for my little baby," Ariel told to the boy.

He entered the room to tell to his parents a very short version about his conversation with Triton, also without telling them about Ursula and Morgana being family.

"So, mom, could you come with me? I need to show you something." Edward asked.

"Right now? But it´s bedtime honey, could it be tomorrow at morning?"

Edward was congaing the excitement, but it couldn´t wait to the next day.

"Nope, I´m sure we can sleep a little late tonight," Ariel face was curious, but still unsure "please, come on where is that curious mermaid that grandfather tells me you were."

Eric couldn´t help it but he laughed very hard at that true statement, his son clearly won the argument.

"Okay Eddie, but after we come back, you go to sleep," Ariel commanded.

"Promise."

Eric stayed in the room, Edward clearly didn´t included him the equation, it was just he and Ariel, so he decided to get some sleep.

Ariel started to follow Edward, but during their way, she could recognize and starting to know where he was taking her.

Her theory was confirmed when they were in front of a big rock that was blocking an entrance. Even though years have passed, she still remembers how to enter to her old grotto, she could see that Edward knew this place too, the reason was that because Edward wasn´t strong enough to move the rock he made a little hole so he could enter with no trouble.

"I hope you don´t mind, but one day, Finn and I found this place and we made it our secret club house." Ariel just smiled at her son.

"Not at all honey, it makes me glad that you can continue using this pl…" Ariel´s voice cut off when she could see what her son was trying to show her, the moon´s reflection remembered her the night she met Eric, how she was at her grotto with Flounder, wishing to be a human.

Now she could see her son´s surprise, every single thing her father destroyed when he discovered she had saved Eric, included her husband´s statue was there, as if they had never been destroyed.

Edward just stared at his mother, her face was telling everything.

"The trident destroys, the trident repairs," said the boy. "Mom, I know that you used to be overprotective, and both Mel and I felt that you did that because you just wanted to cut off our fun, but after knowing everything you lived, you just did what you had to because you love us."

Ariel who was now forming tears in her eyes took Edward into her arms and gave him a kiss on his cheek, but this time he didn´t complained, in fact she was surprised when Edward returned her the kiss.

"Honey, you are a really good boy, you didn´t have to do this, years before this place was my connection to the human world and I got really sad when your grandfather destroyed it, but now that I´m a grown up, I can tell you two things. Daddy did what he had to did because he loved me as the same as I did with you and Melody"

Edward giggled at that true statement, his mom and his grandfather weren´t so different in overprotective aspects.

"And second, this are just stuff, don´t get me wrong, I really REALLY loved what you did, but I loved these things because they were my connection with humans, now you, your father and your sister are my most valuable human treasures."

Both mother and son shared a long and warm hug, "I love you mommy," Edward said.

"I love you too Eddie, my little baby." This moments were the most that Edward will miss when he turns into king, being with his family all the time, he will not lose them, but still he knew that he will miss them.

But he didn´t have to worry about that now his grandfather might be old, but he was still in good health to rule the sea for a few years at least, so Edward as he promised returned to his bedroom and prepared to have a very needed sleep, his birthday was incredible and unforgettable in so many ways.

* * *

 **A/N: I know that it took me a long time to upload this chapter, but I had to rewrite everything, since I decided to take this story into a different level that I had planned (you will see I promise), anyway, I´m on school break right now, so I´m going to finish these one shots and start the following sequel that I have been preparing since I wrote "How really Happened". Don´t forget to R &R and if you want you can PM too. Till next time.**


	5. Melody's First Date

Melody's First Date

* * *

It wasn´t a very calmly morning in Atlantica, this was because Prince Edward made a pajamas party with his best friend Finic, Jacob and his cousin Gary, they all stayed up all night and were exhausted when they woke up, it was very late, especially for Edward, he usually wake up very early due to his royal duties as a prince upon land and as the next heir under the sea.

The four kids were grabbing some snacks for breakfast, when Sebastian entered in the kitchen, he could notice they were all tired, even Finic was sleeping while the others were trying to cook.

"Oh boys, if da king see you like this you're all in big trouble", he turned to see Edward, mostly you, young man."

All the little ones begged the old crab to not tell King Triton, especially Edward, who also asked him to not tell Ariel.

"Please Sebastian, it's even fine if you tell grandpa, but if mom knows, she will not care and she will beached me until I turn 10."

The old crab understood that they were just having fun, he knew that Edward never had pajamas parties before on land, so he promised to not tell anyone, just if they got ready for the day as soon as possible.

After doing what the crab told them, Jacob decided to go by his own to explore Atlantica, so they were just, Edward Finic and Gary.

They were entering the throne room when King Triton called Edward.

"Good afternoon Edward, are you ready for the lesson of today?" Since the young prince found out he was going to be Atlantica´s next king, his grandfather had become his royal tutor, he believed that just the king himself should teach and prepare the next heir to take his place, showing him all that he knows and how to behave, but Edward´s favorite class was about how to use the Trident, unfortunately for him, he was going to learn about Atlantica´s history.

Just when Edward was about to nod the royal messenger entered the room.

"King Triton, you have a visitor" the old king rubbed his beard, he didn't expect any visits for that time, he gave the order that the visits started at 3´o'clock, in order to finish his lessons with Edward.

When he was about to protest and send his messenger to tell the mysterious visit to come back later, his face completely changed when he found out who the visit really was.

"Hi grandfather," said Melody while she gave him a hug, she turned to her brother and greeted him too "are you in troubles again?"

"Nope" _wait AGAIN_ "And how do you know that I´ve been in trouble."

"Sebastian told me," answered the girl, the old crab entered the throne room a the same time, Edward looked at him with displeasure.

The king's advisor looked at the merboy, "What? I promised to not tell your parents, I never said that I wouldn´t tell your sister mon."

After a little chat the king asked his granddaughter what bring her in his kingdom. Melody just answered the king that she was coming to visit and that she was going to see a friend.

"A friend?" Edward asked, "you haven't been here as much as I, so how did you made a friend down here."

Melody told him that she was just hanging out with someone she knew the first time she was on Atlantica.

King Triton seemed very indifferent, because he didn't mind at all "Melody needs to have friends of her age Edward," he started his way to Edward's new classroom, so he just followed his grandfather, but his mind wasn't very empty at all, he just had one thought in mind, and it was to follow Melody.

Fortunately for him, this time history class wasn't so long, mostly because Edward himself was very smart, he just never had told anyone, he even understood his parents' kingdom economy and he even made an algorithm to increase it.

When he left the room, Edward found his friend Rebecca talking with Finic and Gary, she was telling them that her brother Alex was going to see a friend later that day and that she was worried because he was her brother after all.

"Wait," Edward said from the doorstep "so YOUR brother is going to have a date today?"

Rebecca nodded quite sad, "Alex never had a date before, I'm just worried for him, he's my big brother you know?"

"Well it seems that your big brother is having a date with my big sister," Finic's eyes winded upon hearing his friend's words, "so I was coming for Finn and Gary to stop the date, because...well I'm worried for Melody too...so you want to join us to stop them?" Rebecca turned to see her friends and agreed.

Meanwhile outside Atlantica, Rebecca's brother, Alex was waiting in the entrance, Melody was leaving the palace and greeted him.

"Hey Mel Mel," Melody just gave him a friendly angry look "So, are you ready to go," Alex asked.

"You know, for a while I was nervous when you told me that we were going to a restaurant," but then I found out today that was totally the best choice you could made."

"What, pizza and sea bowling isn't too royal?" Alex joked with his friend. They left laughing and joking without knowing that the new formed "Anti Date Squad" were listening.

"Eddie, how are we going to arrive before them?" Rebecca asked.

Finic giggled "Don't worry, Becky, Eddie and I know shortcuts to arrive to any place," Gary wasn't very sure of the idea of ruin a date.

"Eddie, don't you think that Melody will be mad at you if you do this?" the merboy asked his cousin.

Edward just shook his head, "Nope, because I have a plan," everyone looked at him curious "we won't exactly ruin the date, we will make a scandal on the place that will make them to leave with us."

Everyone looked confused and pretty unsure about Edward's idea, but they followed him. Finic was the most worried because of all of the kids that were forming the "Anti Date Squad," was the one who knew him the most and Edward wasn't acting like himself at that moment.

Melody and Alex had been playing for a while, both ordered pizza and some water, Melody found Atlantica´s food very curious and interesting, on land she never had tasted so different, yet so delicious. The place was even better than she had imagined, in fact, Atlantica was a complete new world for her and she loved the fact that it was her home too.

"Hey Mel, I think it´s your turn now," Alex told the girl, neither of them had noticed that just a few tables behind them, the whole Anti Date Squad was planning their move.

Gary wasn't paying so much attention to his cousin, it was the first time on a place like that, he just wanted to play with the others, in fact he didn't even remember why they were there.

Edward had a very unique hat and wore sunglasses in order to not being seen by his sister, Rebecca wore the same outfit, instead of the hat, she decided to use a black wig to cover her blonde hair.

"Okay guys, so here's the deal, Gary," Edward pointed at the other merboy who was in front of him "you will start to play so very well and for each time you score you make noise as loud as you can" the kid just nodded because he just wanted to play bowling.

"Gary, you go and order plenty of food, my grandpa gave plenty of shells for all the afternoon so that won't be a problem," the redhead said to his friend.

"And finally Becky and I will be interrupting any romantic sign from Melody and/or Alex and after I make the signal we pretend to start a fight between Finn and I, so the manager won't have any choice but ask all of us to leave, including those two over there," said Edward pointing Melody and Alex.

* * *

The 4 kids started their operation, Gary wasn't very good playing bowling, so he couldn't make so much noise saying he was the best because clearly he wasn't, Finic had ordered as plenty of food as he could, the problem was not even with the four of them were able to finish all, and finally Edward was almost caught by Melody when he walked too close to her and his hat almost fell to the ground.

"Hey, big guy," Rebecca said to Alex, still undercover, "could you please help me grabbing the ball, it's too heavy for me you know, but still, I want to make a score so if you don't mind.

Alex was nervous, he didn't know who this little girl was and still she was asking him for help.

"I don't want to sound very indifferent, but why don't you get a ball according your size, I'm sure I can help you find someone who can give you one," he turned to Melody and gave her an apologizing look, she just nodded with a smile. She didn't know why but the fact of seeing Alex helping a little girl made her see him quite cute.

After trying to make the whole process as long as she could, Rebecca, just thank Alex and went with the rest of the group.

Melody as curious as she was started to think that was something with those four kids that didn't feel right, so she headed to them.

"Um, hi…" the 12 year old said to the kids, Edward jumped scared from his seat, that was because Melody was just behind him, "I wasn't able to apologize when I almost throw your hat...Eddie."

Edward's eyes winded as much as he could, _how could she figured it out? This was the perfect plan_. "I'm sorry lady, but I think you're confused," he was about to continue when Melody took his hat and his sunglasses, revealing his bright red hair and his blue eyes.

Alex joined his friend, thinking that maybe she was going to do something unusual, he didn't saw all the picture since he was distracted making his third in a row score.

"Hey Mel-Mel, what's up?" asked the blonde to his friend.

"Nothing, just I think we have some stowaways right here," she said as she crossed her arms.

Alex could see Melody's brother in front of them when he finally found out, "wait Becky?" he said astonished as he looked at the girl he just helped getting a comfortable ball. The girl just gave him an apologizing smile.

"How did you found out we were...well us?" the merboy asked the princess.

Melody just said calmly "well, first, it was very strange that with all the empty tables around here, you guys chose one very close to ours," Finic gave Edward a _I told you_ look.

"Second, during your whole time here, we couldn't focus on our game because you guys were just interrupting, and third and the most obvious one, Finn and Gary aren't undercover."

Edward slap his hand to his forehead. "Why did you guys came here anyway?" asked Melody.

Edward and Rebecca looked at each other trying to convince the other to speak first.

"We...we didn't want you two have a romantic date" Rebecca answered "so when we figured it out you two were going to hang out we decided to ruin your date."

Edward looked at his sister "I was the one who started this whole thing, I didn't want to have a boyfriend because if you had one, you will just spend time with him and not spending your time with me as we used to back at home."

Melody was very confused "wait...romantic date?, boyfriend?, Eddie, clearly you're still very young," she lifted her brother's face "Eddie, Alex and I just wanted to have some fun, just as friends, we're not dating, we just wanted to have some fun."

Alex looked at his sister who was starting to fuss "Becky, you don't have to cry, it's ok, we're not mad at you, just, well surprised."

"Seriously you took the time to buy all this stuff just to be undercover" said Melody grabbing the sunglasses and Edward's hat," she giggled.

"Hey, just for the record, Gary and I didn't want to ruin anything, we were just here for food and bowling," Finic said to Melody.

"Well, I think that your plan didn't succeed after all...well not quite." The little group looked at each other confused.

"What do you mean not quite?" asked Gary.

Melody just gave him a smile "well because it seems that this isn't a "romantic date" anymore, but a bowling date with all of us."

Alex smiled at Melody's comment, this was a great idea, she didn't let this situation ruined their game, in fact, she made it more interesting including each other's siblings and two more friends.

After all the Anti Date Squad archieved their goal, they ruined a date for two and they made it a date for six.

* * *

 **So here it is the final chapter of the one shots, I know it took me very long to complete these stories, but I had a few problems with my laptop, so anyway, the sequel of How Really Happened will be uploaded soon, don't forget to R &R.**


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